Friday, 29 January 2010

Creepy Britain

Psycho killer Paul Hutchinson was convicted on DNA evidence this week for a rape and murder he committed 26 years ago. Reports the Guardian:

"Hutchinson, who had no previous criminal convictions, was caught after his son was detained on a driving matter in June 2008. A DNA swab taken of his son provided a familial match to genetic material found on a paper towel at a pub where the killer stopped for a ploughman's meal minutes after killing Colette."

On first read, it might sound like fine police work, but the weird part is his son's DNA. Note that the son was neither charged with nor convicted of any crime. Police were able to take his DNA simply by detaining him. The Guardian again:

"Police routinely arresting people to get DNA, inquiry claims

Police officers are now routinely arresting people in order to add their DNA sample to the national police database, an inquiry will allege tomorrow.

The review of the national DNA database by the government's human genetics commission also raises the possibility that the DNA profiles of three-quarters of young black males, aged 18 to 35, are now on the database." -24 Nov. '09

Creepy, creepy, creepy. The program has no parliamentary approval and

has just slowly vibrated its way into existence, like a radioactive villain on TV's Captain Planet. It won't go away simply because of cases like Paul Hutchinson's. If you've got nothing to hide, what's the problem? goes the official logic, which is a big hit amongst the people. So much so that the government is striving to continue reading 1984 as an instruction manual instead of a warning, with plans to roll out aerial CCTV drones to keep tabs on the populace from above. As if being filmed 300 times a day walking around London isn't enough, Big Brother Gordon Brown will now be treating Hackney like Helmand.